More violence, less income: Arab women bear the brunt of COVID-19, study finds

A new survey by Arab Barometer adds numbers to the narrative that COVID has led to a harsher reality for women in the Middle East and North Africa.

The pandemic saw many working mothers in the Middle East return to being stay-at-home mums

The COVID-19 pandemic has turned Heba Mordaa's life upside down. "Ever since the lockdowns started in March 2020, my work has been deteriorating," the 29-year-old manicurist and mother of three in Beirut says. "At first, the shop owner deducted our salaries because we had no customers coming in. Then, in July 2020, the owner decided that we will start offering home service, which my husband completely refused. I had to leave my job in August 2020 and stay at home. Since I am a mother of three kids, I remained without a job for the whole school year 2020-2021." 

Mordaa's professional set back and her involuntary return to life as housewife and stay-at-home mum is a common COVID-related turn of events for many Arab women. "Women are bearing the brunt at home and at work," concludes the latest Arab Barometer's survey on the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in the Middle East.

Working women had not much ground to lose

Even before the pandemic, the Middle East has had the lowest female labor participation of the world, with an average of 27%, according to data from the World Bank. And this situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as a recent paper by the International Labor Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the UN, pointed out.

After the Americas, the Arab States have experienced the second highest drop in the number of employed women: by 4.1% — in comparison to 1.8% of men between 2019 and 2020. "The disproportionate job and income losses suffered by women during the pandemic will persist in the near future," the ILO report concluded. 

Furthermore, the ILO projects for this year that the employment-to-population ratio for women will stand at only 14.3% compared to 70.8% for men.

This teenage-bride was disfigured in an acid attack by her husband

Uptick in domestic violence in Jordan and Lebanon

Another pressing concern in the Middle East is the uptick in domestic violence during the pandemic.

At least a quarter of women in the surveyed Arab countries reported an increase in gender-based violence (GBV) in the first round of the Arab Barometer survey, conducted between July and October 2020. In Morocco and Algeria, 47% of women reported an increase, in Tunisia even 69%.

But in the latest round of the survey, conducted between March and April 2021, the numbers dropped to 25% in Morocco, to 24% in Algeria and to 62% in Tunisia. In Libya it increased slightly from 26% to 29% while it skyrocketed in Jordan from 29% to 55% and in Lebanon from 23% to 43%.

"Jordan and Lebanon in particular had massive spikes in daily case rate just before our latest survey was conducted. We don't have a causal link between domestic violence and COVID-19 case rates, but the correlation suggests it is worth further research," MaryClare Roche, author of the Arab Barometer study, told DW.

The Arab Barometer's latest survey shows an uptick in domestic violence in Jordan and Lebanon

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, emphasized that "new restrictions of movement mean it's even harder for women to reach places of safety when threatened," she told DW.

The Dublin-based Women Human Rights Defender highlighted that "it is important that networks between Women Human Rights Defenders are fostered. There is strength in numbers, so when, even virtually, they are better equipped to address the common challenges they face, and support one other when they're at risk."

Structural obstacles bar women from the workforce

Opening up possibilities and reducing societal barriers for women in the Middle East and North Africa are considered the most sustainable ways to support women who suffer from domestic violence. "Increasing female labor force participation can help protect women two-fold: First, by decreasing the amount of time a woman spends with her abuser, and second, by providing some degree of economic independence from her abuser," Roche told DW.

Providing an adequate framework, however, mainly lies in the hands of governments. "When we surveyed citizens in MENA about perceived barriers to women joining the workforce, structural barriers, i.e. barriers the government can affect, were the most popular. These barriers were lack of childcare options, lack of transportation, and low wages," Roche added.

Her conclusion is that if governments create policies that increase public transportation, after school and early childcare programs, and there are increases in standard wages, there will be more financially independent women in the Middle East.

For Beirut's Heba Mordaa, at least the financial insecurity had an end in June this year. "I started another job and hope that no more lockdowns will be imposed as my income is necessary for the family in these difficult financial circumstances," she told DW. 

South Africa: Rhino killings on the rise after lockdown curbs ease

The Kruger National Park in South Africa is where most of the country's rhino are being slaughtered. Authorities are battling to protect the species from poaching gangs.



Criminal syndicates are targeting South Africa's rhino population for their horns which are then trafficked to Asia

As South Africa marked World Ranger Day on Saturday, the country's environmental authorities announced a setback in efforts to conserve the country's rhinos.

"From January to the end of June 2021, 249 rhino have been poached for their horn in South Africa," said Barbara Creecy, the minister of environment, forestry and fisheries in a statement.

This figure is higher than the amount poached during the same period in 2020.

The country had been under a hard lockdown because of COVID-19 during much of that period. As lockdown restrictions have eased, authorities have seen an uptick in poaching activity.

South Africa's poaching problem

South Africa is battling to counter poaching syndicates who operate in the country's vast national parks. A large proportion of the slaughter took place in the Kruger National Park, where 132 rhinos were killed.

Watch video12:36 South Africa: "Black Mambas" protect rhinos

The objectives of the Black Mambas is not only the protection of rhinos through boots on the ground and a presence on the frontline, but also through being a role model in their communities. They want their communities to understand that there are far greater benefits to them through rhino conservation rather than poaching.

Black Mambas Anti Poaching Unit - Helping Rhinos

www.helpingrhinos.org/black-mambas/

 

South African National Parks (SANParks) rangers are fighting what is often described as a low-level war against armed gangs of poachers operating in vast areas.
Some successes reported

According to the South Africa's environmental ministry, there have been some successes in the fight against poaching involving police, army and other specialized units.

Forty alleged poachers were arrested so far this year in the Kruger National Park alone.

Along with a total of 125 arrests, officials also reported that there have been numerous confiscations of rhino horn.

There has also been growing partnership with Southeast Asian countries, where much of the rhino horn is trafficked by criminal syndicates. It ends up being used in traditional medicines among other things.

Watch video04:41Rhino 911: South Africa takes poaching by the horn

The battle to save the northern white rhino

As South Africa continues to try and save its threatened southern white rhinos and its critically endangered black rhino, scientists are desperately trying to save the northern white rhino from complete extinction.

A team of international scientists say they have managed to successfully create three additional embryos from the species.

The BioRescue Consortium, which is being led by Thomas Hildebrandt from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany, said they now have 12 viable embryos.

Watch video 02:38 Saving Kenya's white rhinos with embryos

The eggs were harvested from one of the remaining two northern white rhinos in Kenya.

While the species is considered functionally extinct, the plan is to harvest embryos every three to four months.

Those embryos will have southern white rhino surrogates who will produce northern white rhino offspring.

kb/rs (AFP, dpa)

South African rhino poaching increased 50% this year, still lower than before pandemic


A 3-week-old female white rhino stands with her mother, Tanda, at the Ramat Gan Safari, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on September 4, 2014. In their natural habitat in South Africa, white rhino poaching increased 50% in the first six months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

July 31 (UPI) -- The was a 50% increase in the number of rhinoceroses killed in the first six months of 2021 in South Africa compared to the same period last year, but the figure is still lower than pre-pandemic years, the country's government announced Saturday.

Barbara Creecy, the minister of environment, forestry and fisheries, said 249 rhinos have been poached for their horns from Jan. 1 through the end of June. That's up from the 166 poached in the same time period in 2020, but still a marked decline from 2019, which saw 318 rhino poaching.

The ministry blamed the 2021 increase over 2020 on the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

"While the national lockdowns that curbed the movement of people to halt the spread of the virus in 2020 contributed to a decrease in rhino poaching, the lifting of the stringent lockdown regulations appears to have seen an increase in rhino poaching in the first six months of 2021," a ministry statement said.

During the first half of 2021, there were 715 poaching incidents -- including 132 rhino deaths and one elephant death -- in Kruger National Park, a 3.77% increase over 2021.

The ministry said authorities arrested 40 alleged poachers in the park during the first half of the year, and 125 throughout the country. Authorities finalized 14 cases of poaching with a 93% conviction rate, with an overall slowdown of court cases due to pandemic restrictions.

"It is clear that the multi-disciplinary, integrated approach to investigating illegal wildlife trade is bearing fruit and that effective collaboration with critical role players remains key to our success," Creecy said. "I congratulate the teams on a job well done."

White rhinoceroses are classified as near threatened and primarily call South Africa their home, though populations can also be found in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Malaysian protesters demand PM Muhyiddin's resignation

Hundreds of youths have demonstrated in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, over Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's handling of the pandemic. Critics also say he is using emergency laws to cling to power.


Hundreds of youths sit on a street in Kuala Lumpur to demand PM Muhyiddin Yassin's resignation


Hundreds of Malaysians staged anti-government protests on Saturday in defiance of a ban on public gatherings under coronavirus curbs.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin obtained royal consent to implement a six-month state of emergency, allowing him to suspend parliament and rule by decree earlier this year.

Saturday's demonstration in Kuala Lumpur was the first sizable sign of revolt against thelockdown rules.

Wearing face masks while holding black flags and placards, the protesters chanted ``Fight! Fight!'' and ``Muhyiddin resign''

Organizers said 1,000 people took part; police put the number at 400.

The mostly young protesters, wearing masks and socially distanced, were largely dressed in black and brandished anti-government banners.
What did protesters say?

"We fight because while the people are suffering, this government is busy playing politics," Karmun Loh told AFP.

"This government is crippling the economy and also destroying our country's democracy."

The police were on standby but the demonstration passed without any major incidents.

Fellow protester Shaq Koyok said Muhyiddin "is a terrible prime minister" and that he "needs to stop down.

There was a heavy police presence at the scene, but the demonstration passed off peacefully.
What is the political situation in Malaysia?

Muhyiddin took power in March 2020 by forming a coalition with the opposition after the previous government collapsed.

But now the 74-year-old's administration is teetering on the brink after his allies withdrew their support.

Watch video01:35 Malaysia suspends parliament in state of emergency

Earlier this month, his rivals shouted "treason" in parliament and called on him to resign.

Critics argue Muhyiddin is using the emergency laws, which are set to expire on Sunday, as a way of clinging to power.

Despite the state of emergency, daily infections hit 10,000 for the first time earlier this month and have not dipped below that level ever since.

Total deaths have risen to nearly 9,000, while just 20% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

The nationwide lockdown will remain in place once the state of emergency expires.

jf/mm (AP, AFP)

Shell's Niger Delta cleanup: Ogoniland's uncertain future

A Dutch court ruled in January that Shell had polluted the Niger Delta and ordered the energy giant to pay compensation. But many are now questioning whether it's enough to put right the misery suffered by people there.



The UN has estimated it could take as long as 30 years to clean up the pollution caused by oil spills

This year's court ruling by an appeals court in the Netherlands — in favor of Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands and four Nigerian farmers — was heralded by some as justice.

The court delivered its judgment at the end of a long-running civil case. The farmers were seeking financial compensation and a cleanup by Shell for pollution caused by pipelines leaking oil into the Niger Delta.

'Finally justice'

"Shell Nigeria is sentenced to compensate farmers for damages," the court said. The bench added that parent company Royal Dutch Shell was also liable to install detection equipment that could prevent future damage on the Oruma pipeline, the site of a significant number of the spills.

"After years of litigation there is finally justice for many of my clients," said Channa Samkalden, the lawyer for Milieudefensie and the Nigerian farmers.

This is a sentiment also shared by Eric Dooh, one of the farmers.

Watch video 02:23 Shell ordered to pay for Niger Delta oil spills

"Finally, there is some justice for the Nigerian people suffering the consequences of Shell's oil," Dooh told DW.

For Donald Pols, Milieudefensie director, it was "fantastic news for the affected farmers. It is enormous that Shell has to compensate for the damage."

It may well be that justice has indeed been served, based on the argument by Pols, who said it was "also a warning for all Dutch transnational corporations involved in injustice worldwide. Victims of environmental pollution, land grabbing or exploitation now have a better chance to win a legal battle against the companies involved."

The question that remains unanswered, however, is whether implementation of the court's ruling will be enough for the afflicted population.

Ogoniland residents believe cleaning up the area will not be enough

Discontent over implementation

Since a United Nations recommendation in 2011 that operations be put in place to clean up the oil spills, the feeling among the Ogoni Indigenous people is that little has been done.

A popular sentiment remains that the Dutch court ruling would not translate into concrete action.

"The Ogonis are not satisfied with the level of environmental remediation so far," said environmentalist Fyneface Dumnamene.

While the Nigerian government has acknowledged that the cleanup exercise was not going according to plan, due to the COVID pandemic, it insisted that the process was going on smoothly. This position has been vehemently challenged by some of the Ogoni residents.

"I am not satisfied with the cleanup exercise," said Bemene Tanem, an Ogoniland resident who insisted that reports of a smooth cleanup were "fake news."

"President Muhammadu Buhari actually meant well for the Ogoni people, but for those that are executing the project, they are not doing what they ought to do."

This refers to an ongoing plan to clean up the heart of the country's oil industry, which came after Buhari asked the UN Environment Program to assess the level of oil contamination in 2016.

But some five years later, the UN reported shocking pollution levels.

Watch video01:33 Shell blames organized crime for oil losses

Delay tactics?

Environmentalists and activists have been questioning whether Shell's actions are simply a stalling technique, while they continue to exploit the resources of the region to the detriment of the people and the surrounding environment.

These allegations are founded on the basis of an 2009 decision by Shell Corporation to settle out of court with a group of Ogoni people.

The 2009 settlement of $15.5 million (€13 million) — which some people described as insufficient to redress the devastating pollution, human rights abuses and misery suffered by millions of Ogoni people over several generations — may have stalled the agitation for a while but did not successfully stop it.

For some people, such as Bemene Tanem, even this year's court ruling ordering Shell to clean up the damage fell short of the demands of the Ogoni people.

"What the Ogoni people are demanding for basically is political emancipation, we have been deprived of our economic rights, despite the huge economic and natural resources God had endowed in our land, we have not benefited from it economically," said Tanem.

The importance of the people benefiting economically from any projects being carried out is further articulated by Legborsi Yaamabana, a journalist and Ogoni resident.

"What we just want to see in Ogoni is an improvement in the socioeconomic and environmental life of the Ogoni people ... that even the present attempt to clean the area have to march with a socioeconomic recovery," he told DW.

The Dutch court ordered Shell to install detection equipment that could prevent future damage

These sentiments are not shared by Sunny Zorva, former spokesman for the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), who sees the current steps being taken as huge milestones in the right direction.

"Individuals will benefit, the community will benefit, the government will benefit, and, in fact, the companies that will later come to do some work in the area will also benefit … after the cleanup, the water will be restored, the aquatic life will be restored, farmland will be restored for farmers to continue their fishing and farming," said Zorva.
Allegations of corruption

The optimism shared by some of the people is dampened by growing allegations that, while Shell claims to have done significant work in cleaning up the Ogoni environment, the governing council and board of trustees — known as HYPREP — set up by the Nigerian government to oversee the cleanup process has been mired in allegations of corruption.

"The project started without the implementation of the emergency measures recommended by the UN Environment Program. These measures include the provision of potable drinking water for the people and of course the provision of issues around livelihood, including the building of a contaminated soil management center," said environmentalist Fyneface Dumnamene.

Some feel that such allegations will not go down well with the people. For those who have been involved in the ongoing campaign for better living conditions, any actions by HYPREP that do not conform with people's expectations will be opposed.

"Any report of corruption in HYPREP will be seriously resisted," said Zorva. "The people are not happy about it, because it's about their life, it's about their environment."

Illegal refineries have also contributed to the problem

Hope on the horizon

There is, however, a high degree of optimism among different experts and Ogoni residents.

After Buhari's administration apologized for the delay in the cleanup, the work resumed in earnest and 17 sites were certified as having being cleaned.

There was a sense that keeping their promise would also work to the government's advantage, as it would also benefit from a clean Ogoniland environment.

"They said Ogoni people are volatile or violent — it's because they do not have jobs, they do not have enough to eat," said Zorva. "But when these things are back, there will be security in the place, even the government will benefit."

The UN has estimated that the entire effort to reverse the shocking levels of pollution caused by oil spills could take as long as 30 years.

Such a long time frame is to be expected, given the extent of damage wrought by decades of Shell's destruction of the environment.

Shell has faced other legal action linked to its operations in Nigeria in Dutch court. The widows of four Nigerian activists executed by the military regime of General Sani Abacha in the 1990s have accused Shell of complicity in their deaths. Those men were ultimately hanged by Nigeria's former military regime in 1995, along with activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, for fighting for the rights of the Ogoni.

Muhammed Bello contributed to this article

Myanmar junta chief says new elections in two years

The country has been in turmoil since the army ousted Aung San Suu Kyi in February, launching a bloody crackdown on dissent STR AFP/File


Issued on: 01/08/2021 - 
Yangon (AFP)

Myanmar's junta chief said Sunday that elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial timeline given when it deposed Aung San Suu Kyi six months ago.

The country has been in turmoil since the army ousted the civilian leader in February, launching a crackdown on dissent that has killed more than 900 people according to a local monitoring group.

A resurgent coronavirus wave has also amplified havoc, with many hospitals empty of pro-democracy medical staff, and the World Bank has forecast the economy will contract by up to 18 percent.

In a televised address junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said the military would "accomplish the provisions of the state of emergency by August 2023".

"I pledge to hold multi-party elections," he added.

The general's announcement would place Myanmar in the military's grip for nearly two and a half years -- instead of the initial one-year timeline the army announced days after the coup.

The State Administration Council -- as the junta calls itself -- announced in a separate statement that Min Aung Hlaing had been appointed prime minister of the "caretaker government".

The army has justified its power grab by alleging massive fraud during 2020 elections won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in a landslide.

Last week it cancelled the results of the polls, announcing it had uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.

Detained since February 1, Suu Kyi faces charges including flouting coronavirus restrictions and illegally importing walkie talkies -- which could see her jailed for more than a decade.

International pressure, including sanctions targeting the military and army-linked businesses, has done little to knock the junta off course.

The 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has tried to negotiate with the regime -- though critics say the bloc lacks diplomatic clout and unity.

ASEAN leaders in April called for an "immediate cessation of violence" and a visit to Myanmar by a regional special envoy, an agreement that Min Aung Hlaing later walked back.

On Sunday, the general announced the selection of an ASEAN envoy -- Thailand's former deputy foreign minister Virasakdi Futrakul -- and declared the junta "ready to work on ASEAN cooperation".

Myanmar's military has long had a close relationship with its Thai counterpart -- which has a track record of being putsch-happy, staging more than a dozen coups in Thailand since 1932.

- 'Remarkable courage' -

Across Myanmar Sunday small groups of demonstrators marched -- from the southern coastal city of Dawei to jade-producing town Hpakant -- to demand a return to democracy.

Protesters in the northern town of Kale held banners reading "strength for the revolution" while demonstrators set off flares at a march in the commercial capital Yangon.

But, six months since the generals ended a decade-long experiment with democracy, large-scale protests are no longer the norm due to violent crackdowns and mass arrests.

A deadly Covid-19 surge, which has left staff and volunteers working in crematoriums and cemeteries overwhelmed with bodies, is also limiting turnouts.

Pro-democracy medical workers -- among the first to kick off a nationwide civil disobedience campaign joined by tens of thousands of government workers -- now work underground to provide telemedicine consultations to the ill.

But the need is still great, with pleas for help resounding across social media, and residents waiting in long lines for oxygen tanks and medicine for virus-afflicted relatives.

"In the six months since the coup, the people of Myanmar have demonstrated remarkable courage and conviction in the face of widespread violence... and now a devastating public health crisis," said the US embassy in Myanmar on its official Facebook page Sunday.

"The United States remains firmly committed to supporting the people of Myanmar in their aspirations for a democratic, inclusive future of their own choosing."

© 2021 AFP

Lebanon’s middle class joins mass exodus – or finds creative ways to survive at home



Issued on: 01/08/2021 -

Rescue workers dig through the rubble of a badly damaged building in Lebanon's capital Beirut, in search of possible survivors on September 3, 2020, a month after a mega-blast at the port destroyed much of the city. © Joseph Eid, AFP

Text by: Charlotte WILKINS


Thousands of middle-class Lebanese families have moved overseas since the August 4, 2020, blast that rocked the city of Beirut. Some of those leaving town, particularly those who grew up during the 1975-1990 civil war, want a better quality of life and security for their children. But not everyone has the luxury of leaving.

When Fouad Assaf, 51, first felt the tremors of the explosion that rocked the capital last August 4, he rushed to the Red Cross in the hard-hit district of Gemmayze where he has volunteered as a first aid worker for the past 30 years.

As he searched through the rubble for survivors and helped treat the injured, he had a “revelation” – a “huge shock in that I realised that nothing here would change”.

While Beirut reeled from one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, a blast that killed 218 people, injured another 7,000 and destroyed much of the city, Assaf began making plans to leave.

Like his fellow Lebanese, he had been grappling with the growing struggles of day-to-day life in Beirut: queuing three hours for petrol, working around the lack of electricity, trying to feed his family on a sharply dwindling income and struggling to get hold of basic medicines like paracetamol

Lebanon’s current economic crisis is “among the world’s worst in 150 years”, according to the World Bank, and it has thrown the country into turmoil.

Citizens are wrestling with soaring unemployment, record hyperinflation, the plummeting value of the Lebanese pound and growing food insecurity – as well as the Covid-19 crisis. More than half the people in the tiny Middle Eastern nation now live below the poverty line.

But for Assaf, the August 2020 explosion was the “coup de grace”. At the end of the summer he and his family leave Lebanon for Paris, where his children are now enrolled in school.

“Many people were thinking about leaving before August 4,” said Assaf, a technology entrepreneur and father of two young boys. “But the explosion woke them up.”

As a boy growing up during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, he spent his “entire childhood” hearing his parents say the war would end at any moment.

“This week, next month, the international delegate is coming, the United Nations is coming, this next week, next year, we're going to get our Lebanon back,” he recounted in a sing-song voice.

“We don’t want to put our children through what we went through,” he said simply.

“Many of our friends have left,” he continued. “All the teachers and the doctors are leaving. That means the quality of medical care will plummet, the quality of education will plummet.”

Les nouveaux pauvres

“There is no more middle class in Beirut,” he said. “Those who have the means to leave have left, the others will leave very soon … the middle class who stay behind are les nouveaux pauvres (the new poor).”

Hala Dahrouge, 42, is used to hearing about “highly educated” Lebanese people going hungry.

Stories of people living without electricity, mothers unable to feed their kids for a whole week and people being kicked out of their homes because they can’t pay the rent fill her Facebook feed all day long.

“It’s horrible, it’s horrendous what’s happening,” she said, deploring “the lack of medicine – the lack of everything”.

“A 10-month-old baby died because her father couldn’t find the medicine he needed in any pharmacy in Lebanon,” Dahrouge said.

Hala Dahrouge, 42, founded LibanTroc, an online bartering platform to encourage “solidarity among Lebanese” in December 2019. © LibanTroc

In December 2019, just months into the country’s deepening financial crisis, she launched LibanTroc, an online bartering platform to encourage “solidarity among Lebanese”.

What began as a spontaneous gesture on Facebook – and a way of circumventing the extortionate exchange rates between the US dollar and the Lebanese pound – quickly grew into a large humanitarian community, run by volunteers and largely funded by small contributions from the Lebanese diaspora.

LibanTroc, which now has more than 73,000 members on Facebook, also helps the homeless and young drug addicts to get off the streets. Volunteers deliver medicine, food boxes and clothes to those in need. They help people find jobs, start businesses and look after their mental health.

“We deal with cases in a very transparent way,” said Dahrouge, explaining that every request for help is carefully verified. “So donors trust us.”

LibanTroc is her “daily dose of positivity”. Sometimes she closes 10 cases a day, some of them in less than half an hour. She’s delighted that no one has ever been turned down. And she’s endlessly touched by those “keen to pay it forward” – people who want to give them a stroller, or medicine they don’t need any more, so they can be redistributed.

But right now, Dahrouge, a mother of three, thinks about leaving Lebanon “every single day”.

She is tired of trying to cook for her kids without power, organising her day around three-hour electricity blackouts and managing the household budget on an ever-decreasing income.

She can no longer buy the breakfast cereals her kids are used to. Brands like Nescafé and Nutella have to be scratched off the shopping list.

She’s worn down by living with no social security and no free healthcare, trying to raise teenagers who are “traumatised” by the explosion.

"People are so depressed, drained and helpless, everyone is in ‘survival mode’,” she said. “We can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

LibanTroc, an online bartering platform, now has nearly 73,000 members on Facebook. © LibanTroc

Sometimes she thinks about sending out her CV to try to get a job overseas. Before the economic crisis, she worked as a copywriter and advertising creative director – until the “clients stopped paying and advertising projects ran out”.

But the thought of leaving Lebanon is “heartbreaking”.

“Leaving your home, everything – just to try and fix your pieces back together,” she said.

“Just when I think of it I want to cry. I love my country. The warmth of the people … we are like one big family.”

But even if she decides to leave Lebanon, she can’t. All her savings – the money she put aside for her children’s education – are stuck in one of Lebanon’s moribund banks because of the liquidity problem.

She can only withdraw a small amount of Lebanese lira a month. Air tickets have to be paid for in “fresh dollars” – dollars transferred from overseas rather than “local dollars”.

But while Dahrouge, like many others in Lebanon, feels like she is “held hostage”, Lebanon’s ruling elite smuggled their money out of the country when the economic crisis first began.

“They are travelling, enjoying holidays and big weddings abroad while people are digging in garbage,” said Dahrouge with disgust. “They are monsters.”

‘Not a bankrupt state, a stolen state’

“Why is [Saad] Hariri on the French Riviera?” asked Maya Ibrahimchah, 48, founder of the NGO Beit el Baraka, referring to Lebanon’s former prime minister who was recently named PM-designate. “Where are the dollars that he stole?”

“All the superpowers know exactly where the money is. It’s placed in banks, in the United States and France and Switzerland. Give us back our money.”

“Riad Salamé (governor of Lebanon’s central bank, La Banque du Liban) is a French citizen – why doesn’t France sanction him?” she asked.

“Lebanon is not a bankrupt state, it’s a stolen state.”

Back in Christmas 2018, Ibrahimchah was despairing of the “ingrained” corruption in Lebanese society when she met a retired French teacher living under a bridge.

Maya Chams Ibrahimchah, who set up the NGO Beit el Baraka in February 2019, is staying firmly put in Lebanon. © Maya Chams Ibrahimchah

Astonished to find this “well-dressed, highly educated woman” in such dire straits – teachers in Lebanon’s private sector have no pension plan – in February 2019 she opened a small supermarket where people shopped for free with points. Every month she renewed their points; those who could help out were given more.

She started out by helping some 228 families. Then six months later, when the revolution kicked off as the economy went into freefall, she found herself supporting 175,000 individuals.

“People were falling all around us like flies,” said Ibrahimchah. “What was happening was horrible – people were losing their lives, their livelihoods, dignity, [struggling for] food. It was surreal and it was only the beginning.”

Now, in the wake of the Beirut blast, her NGO has already rebuilt 311 homes and she plans to put some 32,000 children through school.

For in the days after the explosion, it was volunteers and NGOs – made up of the country’s youth and funded by the Lebanese diaspora – who swept the rubble and debris from the street. In the absence of the state, NGOs and associations looked after the wounded, collected the names of the missing and the dead, and provided the thousands of newly homeless citizens with food and shelter.

“Civil society simply took over the government,” said Ibrahimchah.

“I’m not saying this is a good thing,” she went on. “Every country needs to have a government.”

“But what’s important is that NGOs are setting new standards of governance,” she said, delighted that NGOs were managing to infiltrate “extremely corrupt” public institutions.

But given the raft of problems facing Lebanon, Ibrahimchah understands that leaving is the only option for some people at the moment.

“There are people in very, very difficult situations, people who lost everything and they need to save their lives.”

Every day she sees formerly comfortable families selling their pianos, their pictures, the dining room table and chairs – just so that they can afford to eat.

She understands that “extremely, extremely underpaid” nurses, some of whom are on salaries of $30 a month, need to leave for a while – and that then they’ll return.

But she’s disappointed by prominent doctors on fat salaries taking up posts at Harvard and Cambridge with no plans to come back to their country.

“Why couldn’t they even wait one year to see what was going to happen? Elections are going to take place in May, June – July if they get postponed. Couldn’t they – the wealthy elites – wait a few months?” she asked.

Ibrahimchah herself won’t be “going anywhere”.

“Citizenship is like a marriage,” she said. “It’s for better or for worse. If things go bad, you just try to fix it.

“How are we going to rebuild this bloody country if everybody keeps leaving?”

STALINIST SPORTS

Belarusian sprinter says team trying to force her on flight home after coach criticism

Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is seen during the Olympic Games on July 30, 2021 in Tokyo. © Aleksandra Szmigiel, Reuters

Issued on: 01/08/2021 - 

A Belarusian sprinter said she was taken to the airport against her wishes on Sunday to board a flight back home after she publicly complained about national coaches at the Tokyo Olympics.

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was due to compete in the women's 200 metres on Monday, told Reuters she did not plan to return to her country and that she had sought the protection of Japanese police at Tokyo's Haneda airport so she would not have to board the flight.

"I will not return to Belarus," she told Reuters in a message over Telegram.

The Belarusian Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tsimanouskaya, 24, said coaching staff had come to her room on Sunday and told her to pack. She was taken to the airport before she could run in the 200 metres and 4x400 metres relay on Thursday.

She said she had been removed from the team due "to the fact that I spoke on my Instagram about the negligence of our coaches”.

Tsimanouskaya had previously complained she was entered in the 4x400 m relay after some members of the team were found to be ineligible to compete at the Olympics because they had not undergone a sufficient amount of doping tests.

"Some of our girls did not fly here to compete in the 4x400 m relay because they didn't have enough doping tests," Tsimanouskaya told Reuters from the airport.

"And the coach added me to the relay without my knowledge. I spoke about this publicly. The head coach came over to me and said there had been an order from above to remove me.”

Tsimanouskaya added she was standing next to Japanese police at the airport and she has reached out to a member of the Belarusian diaspora in Japan to retrieve her at the airport.

Haneda police said there was no one immediately available to comment.

(REUTERS)

Workers at world's biggest copper mine in Chile agree to strike

Issued on: 01/08/2021 - 

Workers of the Escondida copper mine protest during a strike outside BHP Billiton's offices, in May JAVIER TORRES AFP

Santiago (AFP)

Workers at the world's biggest copper mine, Chile's Escondida, have approved a strike after rejecting the final contract offer proposed by multinational owners BHP.

Chile is the world's top producer of copper, making up 28 percent of global output. The mineral accounts for 10-15 percent of the South American country's GDP, with much of it exported to China, the world's biggest consumer.

Following the results of a vote that lasted until Saturday night, the union reported in a statement that there were 2,164 votes in favor of starting the strike against 11 for accepting the employer's offer.

Union and company leaders can initiate a final dialogue with government mediation within five to 10 days.

Escondida workers staged a 44-day strike in 2017, the longest in the history of Chilean mining. The strike caused $740 million in losses for the company.

The workers are asking for a one-time bonus to recognize their work during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as education benefits for their children.

"We hope that this strong vote is the decisive wake-up call for BHP to initiate substantive talks... if it wants to avoid an extensive conflict, which could be the most costly in the country's union history," the union said.

The Escondida mine is located in the world's driest desert, the Atacama in northern Chile, at more than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) in altitude.

It is the same area where in 2010 some 33 men were trapped 700 meters underground for 69 days following a cave-in at the Copiapo mine.

© 2021 AFP

COFFEE HOUSE CULTURE IN 18TH CENTURY ENGLAND

Coffee houses transformed British society in the 17th and 18th centuries. But who visited coffee houses, and why?

The French writer Maximilien Misson enjoyed visited London’s coffee houses in the late 17th century. “You have all manner of news there,” Misson reported. “You have a good fire, which you may sit by as long as you please. You have a dish of coffee; you meet your friends for the transaction of business, and all for a penny.”

Coffee houses exploded in 17th century England and transformed society in the 18th century. Why did England go crazy for coffee, and how did coffee houses change history?



A London coffee house, c. 1700. © Trustees of the British Museum

THE RISE OF THE COFFEE HOUSE

In 1652, Pasqua Rosée opened the first coffee house in London. Rosée, who came to England as a servant, brought a lifetime of experience drinking coffee in Turkey.

Londoners flocked to the coffee house. They ordered drinks “black as soot, and tasting not much unlike it,” according to trader William Bidulph. By 1675, England boasted over 3,000 coffee houses.

The link between students and coffee began early. Cambridge and Oxford hosted multiple competing coffee houses. Visitors tossed back cups of coffee while debating academic matters. Outsiders even called the coffee houses “penny universities.” For the price of a penny, patrons indulged in their academic interests.

For years, coffee houses were associated with educated men and well-off traders. But soon, London’s coffee houses found an even broader clientele

COFFEE AS MEDICINE

Was coffee harmful––or did it cure? In the 17th century, the English debated the properties of the strange beverage.

Francis Bacon performed experiments on coffee even before coffee houses sold the beverage. According to coffee supporters, the beverage cured “head-melancholy” and drunkenness. Coffee supposedly treated gout, survey, and even smallpox.

Yet in excess, coffee could also harm. The drink caused tremors in high doses and potentially contributed to heart conditions. One experimentalist worried the beverage could cause paralysis.


A still life by Christian Berentz, c. 1700. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica


The ills caused by coffee went beyond physical ailments, according to an anonymous pamphlet published in 1674. The Women’s Petition Against Coffee attached the “newfangled, abominable, heathenish liquor called coffee.”

COFFEE HOUSES AS MEETING PLACES

As coffee houses opened across England, they catered to different interests.

Some coffee houses had a reputation for scholarly discussions. Others offered Latin lessons or poetry recitals. Natural philosophers hashed out disagreements on astronomical principles over a cup of coffee.

But not every coffee house focused on learning. Moll King’s coffee house in Covent Garden earned a reputation for welcoming the neighborhood’s prostitutes.


A painting showing an early modern coffee house.


The diarist Samuel Pepys enjoyed visiting London’s coffee houses in the 1660s. Pepys praised the coffee houses as an excellent place to transact business––and hear gossip.

Businessmen turned coffee houses into workplaces. Many established predictable hours at their favorite coffee houses, where clients would pop in to discuss the latest business. Businessmen even received mail at coffee houses.

Tom’s Coffee House, located in the City of London, welcomed bankers. Stockbrokers flocked to Garraways Coffee House and Jonathan’s Coffee House. The Latin Coffee-House by St. Paul’s welcomed book publishers.




A list of rules and orders for visitors at an English coffee house.


Lloyd’s Coffee House became the merchant and sailor destination. Edward Lloyd, the founder, shared news on shipping. Clients bought and sold so many maritime insurance policies that the coffee house eventually evolved into Lloyd’s of London, still a major insurer today.

Other coffee houses welcomed nonconformists. Religious and political dissidents found homes at coffee houses – after the Restoration, King Charles II tried to shut down coffee houses.

According to the monarch, coffee houses “have produced very evil and dangerous effects.” Men plotted against the king over coffee, Charles suspected, leading him to declare coffee houses a “disturbance of the peace and quiet of the realm.”

The proclamation stirred an instant backlash. The king backed down two weeks later.

PRINT CULTURE AND THE COFFEE HOUSE

Coffee houses shared news and distributed pamphlets. London’s first daily newspaper began printing in 1702. Between editions of the London Courant, runners visited coffee houses to share breaking news.

The “Wet Paper Club” at the Chapter Coffee House bragged that their news was so fresh, the pages were still wet with ink.




A pamphlet arguing against coffee and coffee houses from 1674.


Politics and trade dominated coffee house news. But patrons also wanted gossip, satire, and moralizing tales. Many coffee houses offered newspapers and pamphlets for free with the cost of admission. Some read the news out loud to encourage debate.

Coffee houses were more than a place to meet or conduct business. They became libraries with everything from the latest news from the colonies to scandalous broadsheets.

 
WOMEN AND COFFEE HOUSES

Although coffee houses claimed to admit anyone, in practice women were largely excluded.

Rather than an outright ban on women, coffee houses positioned themselves as a space for men to discuss politics, debate ideas, and transact business––topics that did not involve respectable women.

Some women worked in coffee houses as servers, and others even owned coffee houses. Moll King's coffee house became known for its clientele of traders, criminals, and prostitutes.

Women did drink coffee in private. And tea offered a respectable, affordable alternative. By the late 18th century, tea eclipsed coffee as England’s drink of choice. Yet tea shops never rivaled coffee houses as public meeting spaces.



Louis-Marin Bonnet, “The Woman Taking Coffee,” 1774.


Although coffee house culture dwindled in the 19th century, today cafes have taken over London. The number of independent coffee shops skyrocketed 700% in the past decade and Brits can choose from over 25,000 coffee shops.

London’s coffee house culture inspired several scenes in Engaged to an Earl. Elinor Barrett’s pamphlet causes a scandal in London’s coffee houses, triggering a pamphlet war. But when Elinor tries to visit a coffee house, she finds herself in hot water. Check out Engaged to an Earl for even more about 18th century coffee house culture.

SYLVIA PRINCE

July 21, 2021